


as we dream (by the fire)

by Fives (janfives90)



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F, winter cabin au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:09:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21599722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janfives90/pseuds/Fives
Summary: Kaylee held out a hand. “Let me know if you have any trouble with that. Okay? You’re still my friend.”Shelby stared at her hand for a moment before shaking it. “You’ve got it,” she said softly.The touch lingered, long enough Shelby’s heart skipped a beat, unsure.
Relationships: Kaylee/Shelby (The Prom Musical)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 42





	as we dream (by the fire)

Shelby Gonzales opened the door of her rental car, wincing as a cold blast of wind hit her hard in the chest.

It had been years since the last time she was at her family’s winter cabin, but here she was, on the first day of winter break.

She frowned when smoke in the chimney caught her eye, and she grabbed a ski pole from the back of the SUV, carrying it as a makeshift weapon as she walked up to the front door and opened it.

The cabin was warm, filled with the soft scent of evergreen and cinnamon. Shelby slowly walked towards the living room, where the fireplace was, the ski pole held in front of her.

As she turned the corner, she almost swung it at the woman who suddenly came into view.

“Oh, Jesus!” Kaylee Klein flinched and backed up, her hands raising to protect her face.

Shelby dropped the ski pole down to her side immediately. “Kaylee? What… What are you doing in my house?”

Kaylee made an annoyed huffing noise, adjusting her fleece jacket. “Technically, it’s _my_ house. You guys just rent it from me.”

“Well… True.” Shelby laughed. “We rent it from your parents, you mean?”

“No…” Kaylee paused, watching as Shelby’s expression didn’t change. “Oh, wow. You really don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?”

Kaylee gave an awkward laugh. “Nothing. Nothing. It’s fine. Uhm. I run the place now, so. If you need something, you can just ask me. I’m in the cabin up the road.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Were you seriously going to hit me with a ski pole?”

Shelby prodded her lightly in the stomach with it, making her laugh. “Hey, it was all I had! I saw the smoke and didn’t know if there was an intruder!”

“To which I then ask, you walked into a house you thought there might have been an intruder in?”

“Okay, maybe not my smartest moment. Still smarter than when we were kids and you tried to use two snowboards at once.”

Kaylee stepped forward and poked her hard in the chest. “That was a _logical trial._ It should’ve been just like skiing!”

“You broke your leg, Klein.”

“You distracted me, Gonzales.”

 _“Suuuuuuuure_ I did.”

Kaylee grinned at her, a soft look in her eyes. “I missed you,” she admitted in a whisper.

“I missed you, too,” Shelby murmured.

They stared at each other for a moment, until Kaylee cleared her throat and stepped back. “I got the fire going and put a candle in the bathroom on this level. There’s also a fresh pie in the kitchen. Cinnamon apple.”

“Did you make it?”

“Oh, God no,” Kaylee said with a laugh. “Do you remember Emma and Alyssa? They’re still in town. They got married a few years back and took over the bakery from Emma’s grandma.”

“Oh, wow. That’s great.” Shelby shuffled her weight a bit. “I, uh. I didn’t realize I had missed so much.”

“Yeah, you kind of did.” Kaylee shrugged. “But you can catch up now. How long will you be here? I know your family has the place rented from now until the end of January, but is that just your parents, or…”

“It’s me and my dad, here the whole time,” Shelby said. “My mom died last year.”

Kaylee flinched. “Shit. I’m sorry, Shelby.”

“It’s okay. I, uh… It’s still tough, obviously, but I think we’re getting through it.”

“Good.” Kaylee held out a hand. “Let me know if you have any trouble with that. Okay? You’re still my friend.”

Shelby stared at her hand for a moment before shaking it. “You’ve got it,” she said softly.

The touch lingered, long enough Shelby’s heart skipped a beat, unsure. Then Kaylee pulled back and gave a nervous smile. “I should be going. I have to check on one of the other properties.”

“Right.” Shelby paused. “When will I see you again?”

Kaylee laughed. “We’re neighbors, Gonzales, and you’re on vacation. I’m sure you’ll figure out a way.”

* * *

“Here, kiddo. Put the last ornament on for me, would you?” Julian Gonzales handed a small whale with a Santa hat over to Shelby.

As Shelby searched the tree for the right spot to hang the decoration, her father sat down on the couch, eating a slice of pie. “You’ll have to thank Kaylee. You seem to really be enjoying that. It’s, what, your third piece?”

“It’s Christmas,” Julian said with a frown. “I’m going to do what I want.”

“It’s December 4th, Dad.”

“Close enough.”

Shelby rolled her eyes and put the ornament on the tree before sitting down next to him, drinking a glass of eggnog. “This needs more rum.”

“There isn’t any rum in it.”

“Yeah, I know, that’s why it needs more rum.”

Julian laughed and pushed her head lightly to the side. “You’re trouble.”

Shelby grinned at him. “I try.” She finished her drink and stood up. “Hey. I want to get some stuff to make breakfast in the morning. And some rum. I’m going to go out to the store before this storm picks up, okay?”

Julian frowned and glanced at the window, dark with snow swirling hard against the glass. “I don’t know, kiddo. It could get bad out there any minute.”

“I’ll be fine, Dad. I’ve driven in snow before.”

“Are you sure? I can go with you.”

Shelby shook her head. “It’s not a problem. I’ll be there and back in no time. Just hang out and enjoy the pie.”

* * *

She was not very far down the road before she realized she had gravely miscalculated.

“Shit,” Shelby muttered, gripping the steering wheel of her SUV as she crept slowly through the snowy road.

It would be difficult to turn around on the thin trail, making turning back practically impossible, but moving forward was getting more and more dangerous by the second.

“Great job, Gonzales. Good plan.”

She was about to try to think of a third option when the SUV - and the black ice on the road - made one for her.

The car swerved suddenly, yanking the wheel out of her control, and all she could do was brace herself as the SUV spun hard, went off the road, and landed heavily on its side in a ditch.

Shelby groaned, pushing her air bag off of her, feeling blood on the side of her face. Her body ached, but nothing seemed seriously injured, just thrown around and bruised. She patted her pocket, looking for her phone, but it was no longer there. She looked around and saw it, tossed down to the passenger side.

“Fuck,” she mumbled. She opened the center console and took out one of the things she had put into the car when she rented it, an emergency tool her mother had, on the day she started driving by herself, insisted she always keep in her car.

Shelby braced herself, holding the steering wheel with one hand, then used the tool to cut off her jammed seatbelt. Carefully, she dropped down to the passenger side, lying in the snow, and picked up her phone.

The screen was smashed, so badly that she could see some of the internal parts.

“Fuck,” Shelby repeated.

She sighed heavily, realizing that she really did only have one option.

Walk.

Shelby took the tool, using it to break the windshield, then she carefully stepped out into the snow, groaning as her aching body was assaulted by the wind and cold.

“Jesus Christ. This was a shit plan.”

She climbed up to the road, taking in her surroundings, trying to remember what direction she had been coming from.

Then, she spotted the cabin a few yards away.

_I’m in the cabin up the road._

Even after all that time had passed, Shelby would recognize the Klein house.

Kaylee.

She would go to Kaylee.

* * *

Kaylee opened her front door and stared at the sight in front of her.

Shelby Gonzales, bleeding from a gash in her temple, covered in snow, looking exhausted and hurt and in shock.

“Holy shit.” Kaylee grabbed Shelby’s arm and steered her into the house, pulling her over to the couch and setting her down in front of the fireplace. “Shelby, what the hell happened to you?”

“Crashed my car,” Shelby said, almost falling over once she had finally stopped moving. “Oh, wow, that adrenaline was really keeping me awake, huh?”

“Wait here a second.” Kaylee hurried to the bathroom and came back with a first aid kit, sitting down on the table in front of Shelby and taking out a cloth. “You’re tired?”

“Yeah, but I walked here from my car.”

Kaylee took Shelby’s jaw in her hand, holding her in place as she started to clean the blood off of her face. “You could have a concussion.”

“That would suck. How am I supposed to woo you with my awesome skiing talent if I have a concussion?”

Kaylee blinked at her, freezing with the cloth still pressed to the side of Shelby’s face.

Shelby blushed. “Sure, let’s say I have a concussion. Or I’m drunk. Or I’m falling asleep and can’t keep my stupid mouth shut.”

“I sure hope you’re not drunk if you were driving.”

“Fuck. Right. I’m not drunk; I swear.”

Kaylee took a cotton pad out of the kit and poured some hydrogen peroxide on it. “Good. Stay still.”

Shelby cringed as Kaylee used the pad to clean the rest of the blood off the cut. “You know, water is better. And it doesn’t hurt as much.”

“Maybe it’s punishment for being a moron and trying to drive in a storm.” Kaylee set the pad down and picked up a new, clean one, drying Shelby’s temple off before she put a bandage over the cut. “What the hell were you doing out there?”

“I wanted to…” Shelby shrugged. “When I was a kid, coming up here, my mom used to make omelettes for breakfast the first morning we spent in the cabin. And I wanted to just… make it for my dad, so that he could feel like something was normal.” She paled. “Oh, God. My dad. My phone got busted; I couldn’t call him.”

“You can use mine.” Kaylee pulled her down and pressed a soft kiss to her brow, then handed her a cellphone. “I’m going to put this stuff away.”

She picked up the trash and the first aid kit, then walked away, leaving Shelby sitting on the couch.

* * *

“He told me to stay put. We’d deal we the car in the morning.” Shelby nodded as Kaylee handed her a mug of hot chocolate. “As long as that’s okay?”

“Shelby,” Kaylee said with a thin smile. “You’re the first girl I ever kissed. I’m not going to send you out into a blizzard with a possible concussion. Of course you can stay.”

Shelby grinned. “So if I wasn’t the first girl you kissed, you’d kick me out?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

They both laughed, and Kaylee took a seat next to her on the couch.

“Hey.” Kaylee set a hand on Shelby’s knee. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“I’m glad I’m okay, too.”

Kaylee rolled her eyes. “I don’t remember you being this funny when we were kids.”

“Wow. Rude.” Shelby rubbed the back of her neck and took a sip of her hot chocolate. “How did you end up running the cabins?”

“Well. I sort of, uh… My parents moved to Florida.” Kaylee cleared her throat. “And, uh. They were planning on just closing up shop here and leaving, but I had been saving up money for years to move out and go to school, so I used it all to buy them out instead.”

“You didn’t want to go with them?”

“I’m not sure _they_ wanted me to go with them,” Kaylee said softly.

“...Oh.” Shelby set her mug down on a coaster on the table. “I’m sorry, Kaylee.”

“I’m not. I like being here. I like taking care of this place. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. If they don’t want to be here, screw them.”

Shelby gave a soft laugh. “That’s exactly the Kaylee I remember.”

Kaylee set her mug down and stared at the fire. “I’m glad you’re back, Shel. You didn’t need to crash your car to have an excuse to visit, though.”

“I’ve always been dramatic; you know that.”

“I’ll say. You haven’t seen me since we were seventeen and here you are, talking about wooing me.”

Shelby flushed. “Here I was, hoping you had forgotten that.”

“Not a chance.” Kaylee sighed. “You should go take a shower. The warmth would help any aches you have.”

“I don’t have any spare clothes, Kay.”

“I’m sure I can find something.” She stood, pulling Shelby to her feet.

Shelby swayed a bit, putting herself far closer to Kaylee, and Kaylee’s breath caught in her throat.

“On second thought,” Kaylee murmured. “Maybe you just need a nap.”

“A nap would be great.”

Kaylee paused, her gaze shifting from Shelby’s eyes to her lips and back. “Shelby,” she whispered.

“What?”

“Things never really… That final winter. Before your parents stopped coming up here, when we had our final…”

Shelby smirked. “Secret fling?”

“...Sure. Anyway. When we did that, we never really ended it. I barely even got to say goodbye to you.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

Kaylee reached up, setting her palm against Shelby’s cheek. “I didn’t want it to end,” she admitted quietly. “I never wanted them to end.”

“Neither did I,” Shelby murmured. “I was just a kid, I barely understood it, but I knew I wanted you.”

“Would you…” Kaylee gave a soft sigh. “What about now?”

Shelby’s eyes widened. “Now?”

“Maybe you don’t need to woo me, Shelby Gonzales. Maybe you already did when we were thirteen and a little confused but excited anyway, and maybe I’m still in love with you.”

Shelby brought her hands up and cupped Kaylee’s jaw. “If I don’t sit down soon I think I’ll pass out from exhaustion, but please don’t take offense to that, because I’m still in love with you, too.”

Kaylee rolled her eyes. “You’re an idiot.”

“Maybe a little. I also definitely have a concussion.”

Kaylee leaned forward and kissed her, gentle and quick. “Then come on, Gonzales. Let’s get you some rest.” She gave Shelby a bright grin. “We’ll have all the time in the world in the morning.”


End file.
